Buying Advice NetPerformanceMonitoringTools

E-guide
Buying Advice:
Network Performance and
Monitoring Tools
Peer Reviews
Inside!
E-guide
In this e-guide
In this e-guide:
Essential network monitoring
When it comes to selecting network performance management and
system features for the
enterprise p.2 monitoring tools for your organization, you literally have dozens of
products to choose from.
How to select the best
network monitoring tool p.7 But instead of drinking directly from the fire hose, it's better to come
to the product investigation and evaluation stage of the purchasing
The business case for process with a good idea of what specific features matter to you
deploying network monitoring
most.
systems p.11
That’s why we’re providing an overview of essential network

TechTarget survey results:
monitoring system features for you to consider, as well as advice on
Network Performance
Management and Monitoring selecting the best tool for your network.
p.15
Read on to uncover peer reviews of 4 specific network performance
TrustRadius Reviews p.18 management and monitoring solutions provided by TrustRadius.
About SearchNetworking p.28
Page 1 of 28
E-guide
In this e-guide
Essential network monitoring system features
Essential network monitoring for the enterprise
enterprise p.2 Shamus McGillicuddy, Senior Analyst | Enterprise Management Associates
Network availability monitoring systems are often the first line of defense that network
How to select the best managers rely on when applications go down. In the ensuing blame game that occurs
network monitoring tool p.7 among different teams in the IT organization, the network availability monitoring
system can prove essential.
The business case for In fact, with the right system in place, the blame game doesn't even have to happen.
deploying network monitoring With good alerting and fault isolation functions, the availability monitoring tool can
systems p.11 allow the networking team to adopt a proactive posture toward service problems.
The network availability monitoring system market offers a wide variety of tools,
TechTarget survey results: ranging from open source technology that is limited in functionality and scale, to large
Network Performance enterprise products from venerable enterprise IT management vendors like IBM and
Management and Monitoring HP Enterprise. When shopping for a monitoring system, the procurement team must
p.15 map the needs of their enterprise to the network monitoring system features of the
dozens of products currently available.
TrustRadius Reviews p.18 When assembling a request for proposal (RFP) from vendors, there are several
essential things to consider: ease of deployment, usability, compatibility with existing
infrastructure, scalability and integration options with the broader IT management tool
About SearchNetworking p.28 set.
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In this e-guide
Deployment model
Essential network monitoring When looking at how a network availability monitoring system is deployed, the first
system features for the question to ask is about licensing models. Vendors vary widely in their licensing
enterprise p.2 approaches. Some sell separate licenses for different types of monitoring capabilities,
while others charge based on how many devices or how many logical objects or
interfaces an enterprise wants to manage. Examine this closely to determine how
How to select the best costly the system is and how complex it will be to maintain.
network monitoring tool p.7
The next consideration is the actual deployment model. The procurement team
should determine if the vendor offers best practice guidelines for configuring its
The business case for system. Additionally, some monitoring systems are deployed as a single software
deploying network monitoring package, while others require separate installations and separate servers for each
systems p.11 component, including the database, the polling engine, the analytics engine and the
front-end console. Vendors that offer a deployment with multiple components
typically do so to enable maximum scalability and flexibility for their customers, but
this approach also adds complexity that not all enterprises want.
Network Performance
Management and Monitoring
p.15
Ease of use
TrustRadius Reviews p.18 A procurement team may assume the existing need for a network availability
monitoring system will guarantee the system it chooses will be used productively. This
is not always true. Research by Enterprise Management Associates revealed the
prevalence of enterprise shelfware -- tools that cost significant time and money to
acquire and install … that is never used.
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The layout and flow of the management console is one of the most important network
In this e-guide monitoring system features for networking staff to evaluate. Do the charts and graphs
presented in the system make logical sense to the typical administrator? Are the
commands intuitive enough? How much training will the system require? In this
Essential network monitoring context, a proof-of-concept evaluation, where network management personnel
system features for the actually interact with the system, will help ensure it gets adopted and provides value to
enterprise p.2 the enterprise.

network monitoring tool p.7 Compatibility with existing network infrastructure
Many organizations operate in a mixed-vendor infrastructure environment. For
The business case for instance, they may have one or two switch vendors and another that supplies edge
deploying network monitoring routers. Yet another vendor might provide the wireless infrastructure. When
systems p.11 evaluating network availability monitoring systems, the networking team needs to
determine which vendors and platforms the tool supports.
TechTarget survey results: This evaluation might extend beyond network infrastructure. Many enterprises
Network Performance monitor their servers and storage with these systems, too. When examining which
Management and Monitoring vendors and which devices a management system can monitor, the procurement
p.15 team must scope out the types of technologies it wants to manage. This includes
virtualization technologies and cloud services.
TrustRadius Reviews p.18
System scalability
Network availability monitoring systems vary widely in terms of the size of the
networks they can manage. While some vendors can monitor hundreds of devices,
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others can monitor tens of thousands. Furthermore, while some systems can monitor
In this e-guide only a single location, others can span an entire enterprise.
It is important to determine the maximum size and level of distribution that a network
Essential network monitoring monitoring system can support -- and, more importantly, how the vendor achieves
system features for the that scalability. One vendor might monitor a large distributed network with thousands
enterprise p.2 of devices using a single server. Others might deploy multiple servers across the
enterprise and tie them together with a front-end console. These variations will
influence the usability and complexity of the system.
Interoperability
The business case for
deploying network monitoring In all likelihood, this network monitoring system will be part of a larger IT management
systems p.11 system. The procurement team should evaluate whether the enterprise will require
integration with other management products. For instance, the network engineering
team may use the availability monitoring system to monitor and manage the network,
TechTarget survey results: while the network operations team might use a higher level service assurance system.
Network Performance Integration between the two will encourage collaboration.
p.15 Other potential network monitoring system features include network performance
management, log analytics, application performance management, network change
and configuration management, reporting capabilities and much more. In fact, many
TrustRadius Reviews p.18 network availability monitoring vendors offer a broad suite of IT management tools
with varying degrees of integration among them. For third-party platform integration,
however, the procurement team should evaluate the technology partner ecosystem
of vendors and the types of certifications and joint support these integrations ship
with.
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In this e-guide
Conclusion
Essential network monitoring Each of the above network monitoring system features should form the outline of the
system features for the RFP, underpinning the procurement of an availability monitoring system. There is a
enterprise p.2 large amount of variability in the market, and many vendors will promise more than
they can deliver. It is important for the networking team to fully understand
requirements for a monitoring system and to map those needs to the capabilities of
How to select the best the products they evaluate. The procurement team should get answers to all of these
network monitoring tool p.7 questions and fully test those answers in a product evaluation before making
commitments to any product.
Next article
systems p.11

Network Performance
p.15
Page 6 of 28
E-guide
In this e-guide
How to select the best network monitoring
Essential network monitoring tool
enterprise p.2 Ed Tittel, Writer, Trainer, Internet Consultant
An important part of any network administrator's job is to monitor the network for
How to select the best performance, traffic usage, faults and availability, and to respond quickly to issues. A
network monitoring tool p.7 network-monitoring tool is a software-based or a software-hardware combination
that watches the network from end to end, collecting data on hundreds of
performance metrics, among them bandwidth, latency, responsiveness and CPU use
The business case for of hosts. A comprehensive network monitoring foundation tracks the network's
deploying network monitoring behavior and issues alerts when it exceeds a performance threshold -- whether that
systems p.11 means dipping below an acceptable level or when network traffic spikes.
Most network-monitoring products work well for typical small to midsize networks,
TechTarget survey results: whether wired or wireless. But more complex networks -- enterprise networks and
Network Performance distributed environments -- need a comprehensive platform that offers visibility into
Management and Monitoring physical and virtual servers, wide area network (WAN) links, a software-defined
p.15 network (SDN) architecture, cloud-based services, network-based applications and
the increasing number of mobile devices that connect to the network.
How network monitoring works

In addition to keeping tabs on the overall health of a network, careful network
monitoring can facilitate proactive strategies, such as justifying the cost of hardware
or infrastructure upgrades required to eliminate chronic network bottlenecks. This
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capability can also save money over the long term by enabling an enterprise to reduce
In this e-guide repetitive troubleshooting issues.
Organizations that rely on a service provider to oversee portions of their network

Essential network monitoring connectivity can use network monitoring to enforce service-level agreements (SLAs),
system features for the which state the level of service a provider agrees to meet. Without clear insight into
enterprise p.2 how a network is truly performing, customer enforcement of an SLA is difficult to
impossible.
How to select the best Finally, a properly functioning network provides higher user satisfaction that, in turn,
network monitoring tool p.7 reduces calls to the helpdesk and subsequent follow-ups.
All kinds of built-in and open source network-monitoring tools are freely available. The
The business case for Ping utility, for example, is adequate for diagnosing simple host connectivity issues.
deploying network monitoring Microsoft Network Monitor provides network packet capture and analysis, which a
systems p.11 network admin might use to troubleshoot network problems. Nagios is a popular open
source network-monitoring tool; it isn't easy to set up but it provides accurate data on
many metrics. However, free tools also tend to be narrow in focus or require add-ons
or plug-ins for expected or additional functionality, such as auto alerts.
Network Performance
Management and Monitoring The free or patchwork approach may be affordable, but it's often inefficient.
p.15 Businesses need a robust network-monitoring product to ensure uptime,
uninterrupted access and ease of use.

Networking monitoring features
A comprehensive network-monitoring product should be able to detect, monitor and
analyze a network and its devices in real time, enabling an admin to respond based on
warnings and alerts. At a minimum, your tool should be at least moderately easy to
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implement and configure, and it should support multiple vendor devices. The product
In this e-guide you choose -- at minimum -- should include autodiscovery, node and device
inventorying, automatic and configurable trouble alerts and warnings, and they all
should be tied together through a Web-based centralized management interface. The
Essential network monitoring interface should include a dashboard with easy-to-read graphs and tables that
system features for the provide different views of network status; it should also have a network topology map
enterprise p.2 (or the ability to generate one), as well as commands for modifying network settings
and troubleshooting issues. Some interfaces provide viewing and reporting only.
How to select the best With the transition to IPv6 well underway, your choice of network-monitoring tools
network monitoring tool p.7 must also be able to detect and analyze Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) as well as
IPv6 traffic and protocols.
Another feature to consider is whether to pursue an agent-based or agentless
monitoring approach. A network-monitoring tool typically uses agents or sensors that
systems p.11 collect and transmit data to a management console for analysis. Agents require some
resources to run, which can affect performance. An agentless product, on the other
hand, is designed to have little to no impact on current processes.
Network Performance
Finally, many but not all network-monitoring approaches are application-aware, which
Management and Monitoring means they can detect and monitor all applications and services operating across a
p.15 network. This is an important benefit, because it enables administrators to understand
if a performance problem stems from either the network or the application itself. An
application-aware network monitoring tool lets IT staff track an application's response
time in detail, including server processing, network request and network response.
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In this e-guide
Nice-to-have network monitoring features
Essential network monitoring The ability to spot trends -- both historical and what's expected -- can be a highly
system features for the useful resource for technical staff. Trend data lets an admin look back at network
enterprise p.2 performance data, whereas trend predictions provide a glimpse into the most likely
future of network performance, based on past behavior.
How to select the best Automatic capacity planning is a handy feature but not needed by every type of
network monitoring tool p.7 environment. It facilitates network-infrastructure management and optimization by
sending an alert to a network administrator whenever available memory, bandwidth or
network capacity is about to be exceeded.
systems p.11
The bottom line
TechTarget survey results: Look for a comprehensive network-monitoring product that meets your needs today
Network Performance and provides scalability for future network expansion. You have plenty of choices,
Management and Monitoring both open source and commercial. Open source is freely available and accessible, but
p.15 the commercial versions tend to provide all required features in an integrated
package.

Next article
Page 10 of 28
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In this e-guide
The business case for deploying network
Essential network monitoring monitoring systems
enterprise p.2 Andrew Froehlich, President | West Gate Networks
It takes a significant amount of time and money to properly design and implement an
How to select the best enterprise-class network performance monitoring (NPM) foundation. And because of
network monitoring tool p.7 this, you need to understand not only what features are available within an NPM
package, but whether those features will actually be beneficial to your infrastructure
team.
deploying network monitoring You may find that only the basic features are needed today, but you may want the
systems p.11 ability to add more complex tools in the future. Others might find it's best to deploy a
fully functional NPM on day one. Most, however, will likely fall somewhere in between.
In this article, we examine why these performance-oriented network monitoring
TechTarget survey results: systems bear watching and which features are most important.
Network Performance
p.15
Downtime is becoming increasingly unacceptable
TrustRadius Reviews p.18 One obvious trend driving NPM is the need to quickly resolve downtime issues that
arise. While the ideal solution would be to create a fully redundant network from end to
end, in many cases this isn't possible. This can be due to limitations in the architecture
About SearchNetworking p.28 itself, an inability to provide physical redundancy, or budgets that preclude a fully
redundant approach. When automated failover isn't possible, the next best thing is to
develop and deploy an advanced network monitoring system platform to identify and
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alert staff when an outage is occurring -- or about to occur. The faster a problem can
In this e-guide be identified, the faster it can be fixed.
In some cases, this simply means implementing tools to monitor network devices and
Essential network monitoring individual links. Alerting based on collected log messages is another common tool. In
system features for the other cases, monitoring all the way to the application layer is required. The vast
enterprise p.2 majority of network monitoring systems today offer the ability to monitor network-only
functions or monitor and alert on both network and application issues that arise.
Additionally, deep packet inspection appliances can rapidly find performance issues
How to select the best at critical points on the network.
The business case for Applications are becoming more time-sensitive

systems p.11 Thanks to a dramatic increase in real-time collaboration applications like voice and
video -- as well as the growth of distributed application architectures -- data traversing
networks is more time-sensitive than ever. As a result, data streams for low-latency
TechTarget survey results: applications must be identified, marked and treated with a higher priority than other
Network Performance data running across the same network connections. The primary tool to perform
Management and Monitoring these types of tasks is quality of service (QoS). Layer 2 and 3 devices, such as routers
p.15 and switches, are configured with QoS policies and queuing actions based on those
policies.
TrustRadius Reviews p.18 In a perfect world, QoS will be properly configured from one end of the network to the
other. But oftentimes, QoS is either not configured or poorly configured somewhere
along the data path. This one mistake can cause major problems for time-sensitive
communications. Identifying these problems manually often requires logging in and
verifying each QoS configuration along the path. Many network monitoring systems,
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on the other hand, have QoS analysis capabilities, using NetFlow or sFlow, to
In this e-guide automatically identify ineffective or incorrectly configured QoS policies.

system features for the Network architecture is growing in complexity
enterprise p.2
Data center virtualization and network overlays often mask underlying network
problems. Suddenly, administrators have to troubleshoot both the underlying physical
How to select the best foundation as well as accompanying virtualized networks in order to find and resolve
network monitoring tool p.7 performance problems. Many IT departments only have tools to monitor one or the
other. And if they have the ability to monitor both, they may be completely
independent tools.
deploying network monitoring Many modern NPMs can monitor both physical and virtualized architectures and
systems p.11 determine on which network plane the problem resides. This gives support
administrators complete visibility into the network, an increasingly important
requirement as more virtualization and overlay techniques are added.
Network Performance
p.15
Event correlation and root cause analysis is ineffective
Finding and resolving network and application problems is one thing. Finding the root
TrustRadius Reviews p.18 cause of the problem is another. On very large and complex networks, it's very
possible to implement fixes or workarounds that resolve the immediate issue, yet
never address the underlying cause. Many times, this leads to drastic and inefficient
About SearchNetworking p.28 network changes to fix a problem -- when the root cause was actually due to upper-
layer problems that went unchecked.
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Many network monitoring systems offer added intelligence to collect and analyze
In this e-guide various network and application events. By doing so, reports can be created that
correlate -- or at least isolate -- the origin of the initial problem began. When properly
configured and tuned, this significantly reduces root cause investigations by helping
Essential network monitoring the administrator focus on the problem and verify the correlated information. And
system features for the since modern NPMs collect data up to the application level, many root causes that
enterprise p.2 previously went unnoticed can now be identified and properly remediated.

network monitoring tool p.7 Seeking single-pane-of-glass monitoring and
troubleshooting
The potential of integrating so many useful network and performance monitoring
tools into a single, unified system is highly appealing. Gone are the days of
systems p.11
independent SNMP monitors, logging servers, NetFlow collectors and packet
sniffers. We now have the ability to unify all of these useful features into a single NPM
TechTarget survey results: product. What's more, by creating a single pane of glass, we also create a single data
Network Performance repository for which reports and intelligent decisions can be made with powerful data
Management and Monitoring correlation methods.
p.15
Next article
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In this e-guide
TechTarget Survey Results: Network
Essential network monitoring Performance Management and
Monitoring
enterprise p.2
In a 2017 Network Performance Management and Monitoring Survey,

How to select the best TechTarget asked 429 respondents in North America about their plans to
network monitoring tool p.7 adopt network management and monitoring technologies.
First, we asked them what was driving them to purchase new network
performance management and monitoring tools. The top 5 drivers are
reported in the first chart below.
systems p.11

Network Performance
p.15
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You will see that the top driver was the need to provide real-time network
In this e-guide analytics (50%). This was followed by the need to monitor increasing
number of users and devices (40%), extend visibility into the virtual network
(28%), accommodate more complexity in the network (25%), and link
application performance to the underlying network infrastructure (23%).
enterprise p.2
We then asked what features are most important when considering network
management and monitoring tools for purchase.
network monitoring tool p.7 As you can see in the chart on the next page, the most important feature is
bandwidth monitoring (33%), closely followed by network configuration and
management (31%). Rounding out the top 6 are firewall monitoring and
The business case for management (25%), integrated network monitoring and security features
deploying network monitoring (24%), real-time packet monitoring (20%), and integrated wired and wireless
systems p.11 network analytics (15%).

Network Performance
p.15
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In this e-guide

enterprise p.2


systems p.11

Network Performance
p.15
Next article
Page 17 of 28
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In this e-guide
TrustRadius Reviews
TrustRadius, the most trusted review site for business technology, helps buyers make
system features for the better product decisions based on unbiased and insightful reviews. Below are reviews
enterprise p.2 on network management and monitoring solutions, from vendors like CA, LANDesk,
and HP.
CA Unified Infrastructure Management – Great
The business case for Monitoring Tool
systems p.11 An Engineer in Information Technology specializing in Investment
Management (1001-5000 employees) submitted this review.
TechTarget survey results: Likelihood to Recommend: 9 out of 10

Network Performance
Management and Monitoring It is suited for large scale environments because of its scalable architecture.
p.15
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
TrustRadius Reviews p.18 The tool is used for enterprise-wide monitoring purposes for IT
infrastructure like servers and network devices. It solves the problem of
24X7 monitoring and alerting of the IT infrastructure. The monitoring
operators receive the alerts in a single pane of glass and escalate them as
needed. The tool also provides deep metrics collection for forensic analysis
used by a variety of teams.
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Pros
In this e-guide
• The architecture is quite scalable. It can support monitoring of
thousands of servers and network devices.
system features for the • Key performance indicators through probes like cdm, processes, etc.,
enterprise p.2 are useful for troubleshooting purposes.

• The presentation of performance data through graphs and tables is
quite helpful.
• The ability to create dashboards and schedule reports.

deploying network monitoring Cons
systems p.11
• The flash based UMP portal which displays performance data is slow
sometimes.
Network Performance • The Monitoring Configuration Service (MCS) feature only has a few
Management and Monitoring probes supported so far.
p.15
• The tool does not provide any network device topology out of the box.
TrustRadius Reviews p.18 Return on Investment

• Alert noise has considerably reduced.
• Ability to integrate directly with Spectrum is quite useful.
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• Configuration of alerts through multiple interfaces is somewhat

In this e-guide confusing.

Alternatives Considered
system features for the IBM Tivoli Monitoring, and HP OpenView
enterprise p.2
CA Unified Infrastructure Management agents have little performance load
on the servers they monitor. They also provide a lot of flexibility to monitor
by using the agent or being agentless. The depth of monitoring is quite
impressive. Also, the tool requires fewer personnel to manage and
administer as opposed to the other tools.
deploying network monitoring Other Software Used
systems p.11
CA Spectrum, Nagios, SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor

Network Performance
LANDesk Management Suite Review: Managing through
p.15 LDMS (aka Ivanti)
An Analyst in Information Technology specializing in Construction (51-
TrustRadius Reviews p.18 200 employees) submitted this review.
About SearchNetworking p.28 Likelihood to Recommend: 8 out of 10

For patch management, LANDesk Management Suite (LDMS) is a great
resource and especially with software that is constantly getting updated
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such as Java or Adobe. It does provide a set and forget it scenario of

In this e-guide automating the checking for new updates downloading and remediating
affected clients in your environment and later provides a report on the
success/failure rate.
enterprise p.2
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
We use it to manage clients and distribute software, updates and keep track
How to select the best of our licenses. It also provides remote support functionality for remote
network monitoring tool p.7 assistance for both users within and outside of our network. This is
beneficial since we have three locations and traveling salespeople.
The business case for Pros

systems p.11 • Patch Management - LDMS provides one location to manage all your
windows patches, providing a solution for WSUS without the need for an
extra hardware.
Network Performance • Data Analytics - this feature provides a way to manage the lifecycle of
Management and Monitoring your hardware/software from purchase with automated downloads of
p.15 invoices from supported vendors to retirement.
• SLM - This helps keep track of your software usage and licenses and
works well in conjunction with data analytics to provide data on how
often a piece is being utilized or underutilized and can automate the
About SearchNetworking p.28 harvest process of underutilized software to save on license purchases.
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Cons
In this e-guide
It would be great if the SLM feature would work in both Chrome & IE.
Currently only supported in IE due to the use of Silverlight.
Return on Investment
enterprise p.2
Not having to constantly chase machines/users to check on the health of
the machines this has freed up more time for other initiatives as I can
manage multiple machines at the same time.
Alternatives Considered
deploying network monitoring I've used SCCM prior but not as extensively LDMS.
systems p.11 Mainly was to push software & image machines and in that aspect the both
function admirably

Network Performance
HP NNM Implementation From the Real World
p.15 Perspective
A Solutions Architect of IT Operations for the Greenlight Group (11-50
TrustRadius Reviews p.18 employees) submitted this review.
About SearchNetworking p.28 Likelihood to Recommend: 9 out of 10

A less appropriate scenario is small networks. 50 devices or less. HP NNM is
a world class enterprise network fault monitoring solution. Any organization
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with less than 50 network devices to monitor would find HP NNM is too
In this e-guide expensive and too feature rich for their needs. Generally we find smaller
organizations just need up/down monitoring. NNM does MUCH more than
that.
Any organization with 100 or more network nodes would find NNM to be a
enterprise p.2
valuable solution for their network monitoring needs.
How to select the best Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use HP NNM in production, demo, QA and DEV environments. We are an
HP partner and reseller of HP NNM. HP NNM has the ability to give root
The business case for cause analysis of network issues across the enterprise. It also has the ability
deploying network monitoring to report on current network performance and trending data. The
systems p.11 architecture of the product is simplified allowing the customer to implement
only the items they need.
Pros
Network Performance
Management and Monitoring • Automated network discovery. Simple discovery rules and granular
p.15 settings across regions allow the user to manage what parts of the
network are automatically discovered. The user also has a choice not to
use automated discovery if they do not want it. They can add lists of
devices by CSV file if needed.
About SearchNetworking p.28 • Simple polling architecture. NNM has a single polling source allowing
the customer to keep simple ACL rules allowing NNM access to devices
across the enterprise. It also supports a hierarchical structure with
multiple instances if needed by the user.
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• Out of box content. There are multiple dashboards available out of box
In this e-guide with the different modules that can be added onto NNM. Key
Performance Graphs include Top 10 device CPU utilization, Top 10
Interfaces with Errors, Top 10 Interfaces with packet drops, Top 10 QoS
violators.
enterprise p.2
• Layer 2 and Layer 3 network mapping. NNM is very good at
automatically creating network topology maps. It allows the user to
How to select the best group nodes together showing small parts of the topology to entire
network monitoring tool p.7 regions for trouble shooting or NOC monitoring.
Cons
deploying network monitoring • Most customers would like to see NNM get away from using some Java
systems p.11 applets.
• In environments where we see more than 10 different network device

vendors in production, we see issues with L2 mapping. Different
Network Performance
vendors use different L2 protocols. This can cause an issue with L2
discovery and mapping.
p.15
HP NNM is very good at producing root cause analysis. MTTR is reduced
with NNM.
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Other Software Used

In this e-guide
HP Operations Manager, HP Operations Bridge, HP Operations
Orchestration
enterprise p.2
Network Monitoring with CA Spectrum
How to select the best An Employee in Information Technology specializing in Aviation &
network monitoring tool p.7 Aerospace (5001-10,000 employees) submitted this review.
The business case for Likelihood to Recommend: 9 out of 10

Well Suited:
systems p.11
• To detect network anomalies, outages, packet loss, blocks, floods,
TechTarget survey results: disconnections, link statuses, power supply failures, UPS failures/low
Network Performance batteries, etc.
• Basically anything that can and will go wrong with the network,
p.15
Spectrum will give you the drop before user community is aware.
TrustRadius Reviews p.18 Use Cases and Deployment Scope

CA Spectrum is being used by the monitoring, network technician, and
About SearchNetworking p.28 network engineering teams at our organization. This keeps operations
proactively aware of any preemptive issues, degradations, and outages
within the network infrastructure. The monitoring team validates that the
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event is true, network technicians repair physical connections, while the

In this e-guide network engineers configure the network devices.

Pros
system features for the • Polling and traps can be configured to take heartbeats at specified
enterprise p.2 intervals and notify on an event in real-time, respectively.

• Topology of devices gives a high-level overview of network architecture.
• Discovery of devices is simple and secure with the use of community
strings.
deploying network monitoring • Details can be added per device or alarm type for actions to be taken to
systems p.11 make troubleshooting easier.
Cons
Network Performance • Searching multiple devices of different IP ranges or hostnames
Management and Monitoring simultaneously.
p.15
• Setting manual maintenance mode on a device to use current time as
start time.
• Report generation.
Page 26 of 28
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In this e-guide
• Compared to competitors, CA Spectrum leverages affordability and
effectiveness.
system features for the • Proactive solution to get a head start on Mean Time To Repair (MTTR).
enterprise p.2
• Outages can be prevented. Ex) A network switch connected to a UPS
(to protect from blackouts and power surges) on a failed battery will
notify net techs thru Spectrum to replace the battery before it is
depleted and causes an outage to users.
The business case for Alternatives Considered

systems p.11 Other tools I have used are more server/application-centric. CA Spectrum
seems to work effectively and efficiently for network devices. Notification
delays can be set to grant grace periods in case of network blips or false
TechTarget survey results: positives, which occur ALL the time. Other monitoring tools send event
Network Performance notifications immediately and would clear instantly, which while on-call can
Management and Monitoring wake a technician for no reason.
p.15
Other Software Used
ScienceLogic, System Center Operations Manager, SolarWinds Network
Configuration Manager
Next article
Page 27 of 28
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In this e-guide
About SearchNetworking
SearchNetworking.com is one of the largest and most active online
communities dedicated to the enterprise network.
enterprise p.2
IT professionals in almost every industry rely on SearchNetworking.com for
How to select the best industry news, technical tips and valuable best practices on topics like
network monitoring tool p.7 routing, switching, network security, network/systems management,
convergence/VoIP and wireless LANs, so they can keep their networks up
to date and cope with constant change.
systems p.11
For further reading, visit us at
http://SearchNetworking.com
Network Performance Images; Fotalia
©2017 TechTarget. No part of this publication may be transmitted or reproduced in any form or by any means
p.15
without written permission from the publisher.
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E-guide

That’s why we’re providing an overview of essential network

About SearchNetworking p.28

How to select the best

TechTarget survey results:

TrustRadius Reviews p.18

About SearchNetworking p.28

TrustRadius Reviews p.18

How network monitoring works

Organizations that rely on a service provider to oversee portions of their network

About SearchNetworking p.28

About SearchNetworking p.28

TrustRadius Reviews p.18

The business case for Applications are becoming more time-sensitive

Essential network monitoring

How to select the best

About SearchNetworking p.28

In a 2017 Network Performance Management and Monitoring Survey,

TechTarget survey results:

TrustRadius Reviews p.18

About SearchNetworking p.28

TechTarget survey results:

TrustRadius Reviews p.18

About SearchNetworking p.28

Essential network monitoring

How to select the best

The business case for

TechTarget survey results:

TrustRadius Reviews p.18

About SearchNetworking p.28

TechTarget survey results: Likelihood to Recommend: 9 out of 10

How to select the best

• The ability to create dashboards and schedule reports.

TrustRadius Reviews p.18 Return on Investment

• Configuration of alerts through multiple interfaces is somewhat

Essential network monitoring

TechTarget survey results:

About SearchNetworking p.28 Likelihood to Recommend: 8 out of 10

such as Java or Adobe. It does provide a set and forget it scenario of

The business case for Pros

TechTarget survey results:

About SearchNetworking p.28 Likelihood to Recommend: 9 out of 10

How to select the best Use Cases and Deployment Scope

• In environments where we see more than 10 different network device

Other Software Used

The business case for Likelihood to Recommend: 9 out of 10

TrustRadius Reviews p.18 Use Cases and Deployment Scope

event is true, network technicians repair physical connections, while the

Essential network monitoring

How to select the best

The business case for Alternatives Considered

TrustRadius Reviews p.18

About SearchNetworking p.28

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